Still Just A Little To Late
by thespiritswithin
Summary: Continuation of A Little To Late had problems trying to upload it as a second chapter so posting as a new story . SasuNaru


**Okay, I only wrote this because I suddenly had an idea and because I don't remember if i put this in the first chapter. . . . **

**Disclaimer: Unfortuneately Naruto and any of the characters affiliated with it are NOT mine because if they were Sasuke wouldn't be such and asshole and would love Naruto like he is supposed to, Sakura wouldn't be such a bitch to Naruto, and Haku would've PWNed everyone. . .^_^**

Chapter 2

It had been a year. A whole year since the shooting. I still don't remember that day clearly. I remember running, gun shots and seeing people hit the floor. Not because they were scared, but because they had been shot. It's kind of hard to forget something like that, seeing people yell out in agony on the cafeteria floor. Nope, I would never forget it, and neither would the people who survived, or the parents whose children died that day. In total, there were ten people shot (I hadn't even realized that he had two small hand guns). Four survived. One boy had became paralyzed from the waist down. One girl suffered from serious brain damage. Another boy had walked from the incident with nothing but a scar. The last one, me, lost most the uses of my right arm. He had shot me in the right side of my chest, right between the muscle in my chest and my shoulder muscle. I had to go through rehab and now can lift no more than five pounds, maybe ten if I strained myself, with my right arm. The other six weren't lucky enough to leave that school with their lives and their parents would probably never forget, or forgive.

Naruto was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance at parole. The court sympathized with him and decided not to give him the death penalty. I remember hearing the verdict on the news, for I was still in the hospital, and I heard the angry wails of the parents who wanted to see him dead. They wanted to see him die for something that was their fault? Their children died because they didn't teach them any better. It wasn't just the parents' fault though. It was them too. They made the choice to make fun of him everyday, they decided to beat him up, trip him in the hallways, make him the laughing stalk of the school. But the blame does not stop there. It's my fault too. It's everybody's fault. The ones who watched and never said anything, the teachers who turned a blind eye. We should all be in that prison sitting in a cell with him. If anything, in place of him.

No, I still can't blame him for what he did. I can't blame him, or hate him. I don't hate him for losing most of the uses of my right arm. No matter how many times I tried to hate him, I just couldn't. There was a point though, when I almost hated him, I was so close. I had convinced myself he was a monster, that he was to blame for everything. But it passed, as soon as I saw the verdict on the television. The look on his face when he heard angry and grieving parents yelling out to put him to death. To make him suffer the same fate as their children who would never come back to them.

It's funny. My 'friends' suddenly vanished. They didn't come to see me for a long time. It was the day when they were discussing the verdict. Like the parents, they too wanted to see him put to death. I remember that day so clearly because I screamed. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I told them that it was their fault and if they wished death upon him then they wished death upon themselves, upon me. They all gave me a confused look at first and then an angry one and walked out. After that I never heard from my so called friends again. Oh well. I didn't lose any sleep over it.

Now I walked down the long hallway, two policemen at my side. Well, to be more specific, one policeman, and one policewoman. After long lectures and sleepless hours, I decided to come see Naruto. In prison, And tell him how I felt about him, how I still feel about him. I only hope that he does not hate me for not telling him sooner. I have no fear of rejection anymore, I just don't want him to hate me for not telling him before he committed that act. That way he would have some hope, somewhere deep down. Well, the rejection fear was still there but was greatly overpowered by the fear of him hating me.

I was brought to a large room where there were plenty of tables. A few were occupied, and they were well spaced between each other. There were at least four guards on each wall and four in total on the balcony above. I searched, but I did not see that bright blond hair that I had come accustomed to looking for. The guards who had escorted me down the hall, followed me to my choice of a table. Once seated the guard bent down.

"We have to locate him first and we will bring him out shortly." he said and left me by myself. I sat anxiously. I had no idea what I was going to say to him. I had no idea how he was going to react to what I was going to say to him. Hell, I didn't even know how he would react to me actually being here. I can almost imagine the look on his face when the guards do find him and tell him he actually has a visitor. He's probably terrified. Terrified that I am an angry parent or one of the others who survived that hold a grudge.

The doors at the opposite to the end that I entered opened and there he was. He was shackled and escorted by two guards as I had been, but these ones looked more alert ready to attack him if he tried anything funny. Jail had done nothing for the blond. His hair was shaggy and looked dull compared to when he was in school. He had paled quite a bit but would still be considered pretty dark compared to my own complexion. He looked a little big more muscular, probably from working out with nothing better to do in here. Finally I looked at his once shining blue eyes and found faded azure eyes as if someone had covered his gem like eyes in dirt. It took him a moment to locate me sitting alone at a table.

He recognized me immediately. I bet he recognized every single person that fell even though before he shot the gun he had no idea what they looked like. As I had guessed, he did look terrified. He looked as if I were going to get up and beat the shit out of him and the guards would do nothing to stop it. Hell, he even looked as if he expected the guards to join me. I tried to make my face look not so intimidating, but my nervousness made it impossible for me to control what it looked like. I only hoped it looked calm, but I doubted it did. The blond was set across from me. The guards hesitated before leaving and once they left, there was nothing but silence. It stayed like that for a few moments before he finally spoke up.

"If you are going to yell at me, please get it over with." he said. His voice serious in every manner. This caused me to look him directly in the eye and my movement must have been so quick that it startled him for he flinched.

"I didn't come to yell at you." I said. My voice was low, to soft for my liking, but I couldn't control it. That is when the confused look came across his face.

"I wanted to come and say that. . . . ." I started and looked away and then looked back at him. "That I don't blame you. I don't blame you at all. And most of all. . .I don't hate you either."

His expression looked odd for a moment. A mix between awe and mistrust. He probably thought this was so kind of trick. That I would start yelling at him any moment and shoot him in return. Then his expression turned to one of sadness that took me completely by surprise.

"How can you not blame me? You were one of the very few who did nothing at all to me and yet you got caught in my recklessness. You were punished for something you did not do." he said. His tone was sad and wavered a little bit. For some reason I felt a little anger toward what he had just said. Didn't he realize that I was responsible too? Had all those people finally gotten to him?

"That's a lie." I said, a little more angrier than I had anticipated. He looked at me with shock and a tad bit of fear in his face.

"I watched you get beaten every morning and did nothing to stop them. I watched you get tripped in the hall way and never offered to help you up. I watched people kick you from their tables at lunch and never offered you a seat. I saw teachers mistreat you and never brought it to anybodies attention. How am I not at fault? I could've stopped them. I could've made your life a little bit easier and yet I just watched thinking there was nothing I could do. You probably wouldn't even be here if I had stopped them. If I had helped you. If I had told you how much . . . ." I stopped there. I was hesitant about saying those words. Those three little words. He gave me a sympathetic look and then pursed his lips and looked at me.

"Told me what?" he asked. Rejection was taunting me in the back of my mind as he waited for me to answer his question. I knew I had to tell him. I knew I at least _owed _him this. I looked at him and then around the room for a moment. He waited surprisingly patient. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and looked him square in his dulled azure eyes.

"How much I loved you. How much I still do." I said. My voice was barely above a whisper, but I knew for a fact that he heard me. I looked down at my hands clasped together in my lap. Waiting for a response. After a few moments, I dared to glance up at him and the most amazing smile was on his face. I think this was the first time I had ever seen him smile so brilliantly, not that he really smiled before.

"I'm glad." he said. He sat there for a moment. When he didn't continue, it was my turn to be confused. Suddenly tears filled his eyes and he looked down at his lap and began to speak again.

"I couldn't believe how stupid I was to fall in love with someone so out of my league. Someone I didn't even know. The day I shot you. I thought I had screwed everything up. I thought you were dead. And even if you survived, you would hate me forever. I _wanted _them to give me the death sentence that day. It would have been better than living with the fact that I had killed you. When I read in the paper that you were alive, I was overjoyed, even though I knew that you would hate me as long as you lived! I was just _so _happy that you were alive!!!" by the time he finished, he was sobbing. I was in such a state of shock, I just stared at his shaking form for a few moments before what he said registered. He? Loved? Me? Naruto, the first and only love of my life, loved me? I reached over the table and lifted his face to meet my gaze as I smiled. My heart overflowing with happiness. He wiped his face on the sleeve of his orange jump suit and stared directly into my eyes. I pulled him across the table to meet me and our lips met for a brief second. That was all I needed and from the look on Naruto's face, that was all he needed to.

I walked out of the jail into the fresh, clean air and inhaled deeply. I was overwhelmed that Naruto had loved me too, but the thought suddenly brought a depression upon me. I was right, what I said to him before. If I _had _told him that I loved him before, then he wouldn't be in here. I could never be with the person that I loved _so _much. I would never have him in my life, except for the now frequent jail visits that I would be making. I don't know exactly which would've hurt more, realizing this, or rejection. I guess that this would hurt much much more because I know he loves me and I love him and now I don't think I would be able to move on. If he had rejected me, I would eventually move on, knowing that he would never return my feelings, but now. When I know he feels the same way, I can't just move on. I guess, unless his feelings change (because I know mine certainly won't) I will forever be attached to someone I can never _truly _be with. Well, not unless I committed a crime anyway.

**A/N: Okay, this is really the last chapter in this. I am not taking it any further for fear of it sounding ridiculous. It probably already does kinda, so I don't want to murder the idea any more XD. So I hope you enjoyed it and please leave me some feedback. I am probably still considered a new writer so let me know how I am do'n plz ^_^.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Naruto and any of the characters do not belong to me because if they did, Sauske wouldn't be such and asshole, Sakura wouldn't be such a bitch and Haku would've pwned everybody!!! ^_^**


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